12/01/2004

The most important item you buy when visiting a temple or shrine is some proof that you have been there, and the cheapest is a small keyholder with a little object and a little bell attached to it.The objects can vary from the animals of the Asian zodiac to some special thing that will protect you in a certain situation.

Special talismans are used for ko sasuke 子授御守 amulet for getting pregnant,kodakara no ishi 子宝石 stone to get pregnantobi iwai 帯祝い amulet for a safe pregnancyand finally delivery (anzan) :

It is a custom to pray for a safe delivery and support during childrearing and go to a temple or shrine to buy a special talisman for this purpose. During the Edo period, raising a healthy child was quite a different undertaking from now, so people made an annual visit to a temple to pray, until the child was 13 years.

Annual Temple Visit for Children（juusanmairi 十三参り）

. . . CLICK here for Photos !During the Edo period, there was a custom to bring a child to a special temple every year after birth until it was 13 (juusan). There was a different deity at each temple to introduce the child to and these 13 deities corresponded to the 13 benevolent deities that would later help the soul of the deceased to make its way through the various courts and judgements of hell, to have a good lawyer in the netherworld, so to speak.

To visit a different temple each year soon was too much for the busy people of Meiji times, so they cut it down to two visits, one after the birth and the last at age thirteen. There would soon be temples where the statues of all 13 deities were assembled to facilitate the visit. Since the main deity for the 13th visit was Kokuuzoo Bosatsu, his statue had to be the biggest. At Kakuon-ji temple in Kamakura, there is a cave with the statues of all these 13 deities well worth visiting.

It is said that the habit of this final temple visit started at the Hoorin-ji temple in Saga, Kyoto. When boys and girls reached the 13th birthday, usually the body starts to change and this sometimes means trouble. To ward all things off the family performs the last visit to a temple of Kokuuzoo Bosatsu to give thanks for sucessfull childrearing and pray for good fortune as a grown up. The special day for this visit was the 13th of April, the Special Day (ennichi 縁日) of Kokuuzoo. On the way back from the temple, you had to cross the bridge Togetsukyoo (渡月橋) at Arashiyama and until then the child was not allowed to look back, since this would reverse all the good luck just received at the temple - at least that is the folk lore.

Here is a list of all the 13 deities involved in this pilgrimage.List of the 13 deities and their sanskirt name (juusanbutsu十三仏)

御田植安産御神事Go-Taue anzan go-shinji, April 8Planting rice and praying for safe deliveryIn Shimane Prefecture, there is a special festival for this occasion on April 8th:Anzan Taue Rituals - praying for safe birth and rice planting, shrine officials dress up as cows and young women and plant rice.at Shrine Ako Jinja 安子神社（あこじんじゃ）

And on this HP you can order your Talisman for almost anything online, they offer a great variety for all occasions in a lifetime:http://www.e-omamori.com/

One very famous historical Anzan Talisman in the shape of a crystal pearl was used by Fujiwara no Ishii and then donated in 1034 to Kashima Shrine, later it was also used by Emperess Jinguu Koogoo.宝物：白玉（二十四顆 水晶製）後一条天皇中宮藤原威子（ふじわらのいし）が玉のような皜子を出産された奉賽（ほうさい）（御礼））に長元七年（1034年）に奉納されたものです。鹿島の大神（おおかみ）はものごとのスタートを司る神様 生成発展を司る神様なので古来根強い安産信仰があり神功后（じんぐうこうごう）が奉納された常陸帯（披見不可）は、安産のお宜りとして、とても有名ですhttp://www.bokuden.or.jp/~kashimaj/homotu03.htm

Ichi no Gozen Anzan sui "Water for an easy delivery"一之御前安産水 (イチノゴゼンアンザンスイ)愛知県豊明市沓掛町一之御前 Aichi PrefectureThe story goes back to the Muromachi period, when a young woman (Ichi no Gozen) got the water from the lord of the domain and then had an easy delivery.. . . CLICK here for Photos !

So there is a connection with Daruma and a safe delivery. Usually the Buddhist deities Kannon Bosatsu or Jizoo Bosatsu are responsible for problems with children. But Anzan Talismans may even have been used during the Yayoi Period.

When we were pregnant with the idea of buying an old farmhouse, a priest at Daisen Shrine told me to buy his Anzan Mamori.“It is not only good for birth,but for anything new you start, a business or something.So try this one!”And he was right: after just two months (very fast and seldom in this part of the traditional countryside) we bought our new home, Paradise Hermitage (GokuRakuAn) and have lived happily ever after with this new CHILD Venture!

On this HP you can order your Talisman for almost anything online, they offer a great variety for all occasions in a lifetime:オンラインで注文する 安産の御守り 生まれてくるすべての生命と母体を災いから守ります。Click on any of the pictures for the small talismans, wooden votive plates (ema) and the others.http://www.e-omamori.com/

the article says that Shinto believes "...nearly every object in the world, animate or inanimate, has a spiritual essense....therefore anything can be blessed, from a newborn child to an automobile."Priests at the Kanda Myojin Shrine 神田明神 which is more than 1200 years old and overlooks Akihabara--Tokyo's mecca for consumer electronics offer prayers for the well-being of gadgets. Keep your cellphone well, keep your computer running, keep you from loosind your job ...